Reporting Economic Crime Online involves a partnership between International,

Federal and Provincial Law Enforcement agencies. Based on over 3600 interviews in
50 countries, the PricewaterhouseCoopers global economic crime survey is one of
the most comprehensive assessments of the effects of economic crime. Many
important issues are discussed and analyze, like: – awareness and impact of
economic crime on business across the world: lower profits, less investments, lower
taxes pay, the depriving of the economy of much needed funds; – the most common
frauds: asset misappropriation and financial misrepresentation; – preventive
measures: investigation and understanding of the real fraud risks faced by the
organization, implementation and encouragement of ethical codes of conduct,
introducing “whistleblower” policies, developing a robust fraud response plan; –
reporting economic crime to the authorities may have a negative impact on publicity,
business relationships, reputation, brand image or staff morale; – no industry is safe;
– asset misappropriation is the most widely reported crime; – the biggest concerns
for the future are asset misappropriation – the most visible of economic crimes – and
cyber crime;3 – the threat of economic crime it’s expected to increase over the next
five years; – companies must understand the significant impact on their business and
to assess the risks.
Conclusions
Economic crime can take different forms and impact on companies in many ways,
including: asset misappropriation, bribery, cheque and credit card fraud, corruption,
cyber crime, identity theft, insurance fraud, money laundering, procurement fraud,
product counterfeiting, revenue and VAT fraud, trafficking in human beings. Besides
the lure of significant profits, organized crime groups are drawn to such activities
because of the relatively low risk of detection, prosecution, and punishment. Quite
simply, the rewards are seen as outweighing the risks. Economic crime, of course,
has many victims. People are its victims. They lose their homes, their businesses,
and their livelihoods. Economic criminals use the financial system both to commit
the crime and to hide the proceeds. Clearly the prime purpose of the financial system
is to deliver increased prosperity Economic criminals frequently use the financial
system to launder the proceeds of their activities. They are keen to engage in
transactions that have no economic purpose but are designed to hide the connection
between the crime and their money. This layering of transaction generates profits
within the financial system.
There are services provided by forensic investigators, regulators and those who
advise on compliance with regulatory requirements. There are businesses that
conduct in depth due diligence of customers of institutions. There are a range of
economic opportunities created by economic crime and which provide profits to the
financial system. There remain some businesses that can gain profits from allowing
criminals and fraudsters to use their institutions to launder their money. Organized
crime has economic gain as its primary goal, though achievement of power and
status and political influence also might be a motivating factor. Organized crime is
not limited to providing illicit services. It includes such sophisticated activities as
laundering illegal money through legitimate business, land fraud and computer
crimes. Most organized crime income comes from narcotics distribution, illegal
weapon deals, loan sharking, and prostitution. However, billions of dollars are
gained from white-collar crime, gambling, theft rings, pornography, and other illegal
enterprises. There are effects of economic crime on various kinds of victims; the
financial system as a whole suffers - and when it does, there is a damaging effect on
its ability to create wealth. However, sadly, but inevitably, economic crime brings
some benefits to financial institutions and other participants in the financial system,
by no means all of them unworthy. There remains work to be done to make sure that
the damaging effect on the public interest from economic crime is reflected more
directly in the net effect of that crime on individual institutions.

SECTION 1 MULTIPLE CHOICE INDIVIDUAL SENTENCES

Circle the correct answer (a, b, c or d) for each gap.

1. Thieves have _____ cheques to change the name or the amount in the face of a
cheque. a) secure c) altered b) held d) forger 2. _____ draft fraud is usually done
by one or more dishonest bank employees. a) on purpose c) alleged b) demand d)
laundering 3. A rouge ______ is a highly placed insider nominally authorized to
invest sizeable funds on behalf of the bank. a) trader c) banker b) investor d)
launderer 4. A ______ loan is one in which the borrower is a business entity
controlled by a dishonest bank officer or an accomplice. a) fraudulent c) hijacked
b) illegal d) financial 5. Credit card fraud is widespread as a means of ______ from
banks, merchants and clients. a) stealing c) buying b) robbing d) burglary

SECTION 2 MATCHING

Read the texts below and match the correct letter (from a to e) with the
corresponding gap (1 to 5). There is one letter you do not need to use.

1. J.S. attempted to alter a depositor’s signature on a bank cheque and then printed
his own cheques drawn on accounts owned by others, non-existent accounts or even
alleged accounts owned by non-existent depositors. ________
2. C.D. used false information to hide the credit history filled with financial
problems and unpaid loans to corporations using accounting fraud to overstate
profits in order to make a risky loan appear to be a sound investment for the bank.
_________
3. F.G. made the payment to a credit cont account in order to raise the amount of
available credit on legitimate credit cards. The amount of the cheque was credited to
the card account by the bank. Thus F.G. obtained cash advances until the newly –
“raised” available limit on the card was reached. _________
4. Impersonation has become an increasing problem; the scam operates by obtaining
information about an individual then using the information to apply for identity
cards, accounts and credit in that person’s name.___________
5. I.T. was captured after serious of financial crimes; the original scheme involved
claiming to be sent by the victim’s bank claiming that the bank suspects, that one of
its employees is stealing money and that to help catch the culprit he needed the
depositor to withdraw all of his or her money. At this point, the victim would be
carrying a large amount of cash and can be targeted for the theft of these funds.
_________
(a) “bank inspector” (b) identity theft (c) booster cheques (d) fraudulent loan
applications (e) forgery

SECTION 3 OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

Read the text and answer the questions. Use no more then 10 words.

Bill discounting fraud

Essentially a confidence trick, a fraudster uses a company at their disposal to gain
confidence with a bank, by appearing as a genuine, profitable customer. To give the
illusion of being a desired customer, the company regularly and repeatedly uses the
bank to get payment from one or more of its customers. These payments are always
made, as the customers in question are part of the fraud, actively paying any and all
bills raised by the bank. After time, after the bank is happy with the company, the
company requests that the bank settles its balance with the company before billing
the customer. Again, business continues as normal for the fraudulent company, its
fraudulent customers, and the unwitting bank. Only when the outstanding balance
between the bank and the company is sufficiently large, the company takes the
payment from the bank, and the company and its customers disappear, leaving noone
to pay the bills issued by the bank.
1) What must a company do to gain confidence with a bank?
___________________________________________________________________
2) How does the company use the bank?
___________________________________________________________________
3) What happens after some time when the bank is satisfied with the company?
___________________________________________________________________
4) Does this advanced settling the balance make the bank suspicious?
___________________________________________________________________
5) When does the bank commit the fraud?
___________________________________________________________________
SECTION 4 TRANSLATIONS

Translate into Romanian:

BANK FRAUD Bank fraud is the use of fraudulent means to obtain money, assets,
or other property owned or held by a financial institution. In many instances, bank
fraud is a criminal offense. While the specific elements of a particular banking fraud
law vary between jurisdictions, the term bank fraud applies to actions that employ a
scheme or artifice, as opposed to bank robbery or theft. For this reason, bank fraud is
sometimes considered a white-collar crime.

Translate into Romanian:

There are quite a lot of countries in which bribe has become something so ordinary
that it's almost surgically attached to the people's minds. The concept has almost
become something legal, something that people consider to be normal. And how
could it be otherwise, since this phenomenon has extended to all the levels of those
societies, to both rich and poor, the only difference being the amount offered as
"gift". Nowadays, bribery is taking different shapes, adapted to the national culture.
Western countries have lower levels of corruption but toplevel corruption is still
present, although very well hidden between all kinds of contracts and more or less
legal business deals. However, in Eastern-Europe and some of the Asian countries,
bribery is much more widespread, being present at all levels. And the main reason
behind this situation is the fact that these people have what could be described as a
"bribe-culture", meaning that they've become so used to the idea of offering bribes in
order to obtain some favors (or simply get things done), that they don't imagine the
world otherwise. This represents both the problem and the starting point for a
possible solution. As long as there are people who offer bribes, there will be other
people who'll be accepting them. But if people change their point of view regarding
this problem, some things might change as well. It's difficult (in some societies,
almost impossible), but it's really the only way. However, whether this will happen
or not, only time will tell.

Translate into English the following words and expressions:

spalarea banilor;
trafic de persoane;
criminalitatea gulerelor albe;
calomnie scrisa;calomnie verbala;
furt de identitate; furt din magazin; furt din buzunar;
mandat de perchezitie;
bancomat.